


The Spectacular Spider-Mage!

by story_forger643



Series: Spider-Birds, Spider-Birds, they will protect you, you have their word [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nightmares, Running Away, cmon its Magica
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-23 11:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30054573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/story_forger643/pseuds/story_forger643
Summary: Lena got Magica the dime. She was ready to leave, to get out before the eclipse, so she headed to Saint Canard to escape.She didn't know what she was expecting from her freedom, but a life changing bite from a radioactive spider wasn't expected.
Relationships: Lena & Magica de Spell, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Everyone, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Webby Vanderquack
Series: Spider-Birds, Spider-Birds, they will protect you, you have their word [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2210982
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Hide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magica has the dime, so Lena leaves Duckburg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i've had this idea for a while, and after sharing it in the Weblena Discord server, I decided to finally write it, and get it out there before the finale releases! i was a few hours later, but eh.
> 
> this chapter is more of a prolouge, later ones will be longer.
> 
> title taken from the song by Juice WRLD. the one on the Spider-Verse soundtrack
> 
> TW for nightmares and child abuse, but it's Magica De Spell. y'all know what she's like
> 
> enjoy!

_ So, I did it. _

_ I still can’t believe that I managed to pull it off, but I did. Aunt Magica is free- and so am I. _

_ Seriously, all it took was that Vesuvian diamond dagger and getting the bitch to shut up for two minutes. See that? She’s not watching me anymore! I can call her a bitch now! I’m free! _

_ Just...wow. I wonder if old Mr. McMoneybags has even noticed the dime is missing yet. Either way, I’m going to jump town just in case he suspects me. Aunt Magica isn’t going to attack them until the eclipse, so that gives me about three weeks to get as far away from Duckburg as possible. _

_ I’m going to St. Canard first. Maybe the old youth shelter there is still open- the people there weren’t that bad- and without Aunt Magica hovering over me all the time, I might finally be able to go hang out with them. Maybe I’ll even have some fun. _

_ I think I’m real now. After Magica got out of the dime, she performed some ritual for me that involved her cutting open both our hands, doing some handshake, a few runes, and a lot of chanting. But, apparently I’m more or less real now. She said that I’m about three-quarters mortal and a quarter magic, so that’s something to get used to. _

_ I wonder if I can age now. I fell down and scraped my knee earlier, and there was blood instead of shadow goop, so I know that I can get hurt. I’ll have to be more careful, though. And maybe pick up one of those books about growing up that all teenagers are supposed to read, because I have no idea how to take care of my body. _

_ Do I have to see a doctor now-? Or maybe since I’m still a quarter magic I still can’t get sick. I hope I don’t have to see a doctor, they would totally call social services when they can’t find any record of my existence. _

_ Or maybe that’d be a good thing. Aunt Magica wouldn’t make me get away from them this time, so I’d have a chance to live a normal life… _

_ Ha! I started laughing when I wrote that. Lena de Spell, living a normal life? How would I even start that? What home would want me, anyways? I’m a troublemaker who breaks the law, doesn’t follow through, and betrays her friends. If an ex-spy says you’re not a good kid, then you’re not a good kid. _

_ At least I have a future now, though. It may not be a bright one, but it’s better than none. And I’m free! I’m actually free! _ _  
_

* * *

_ Okay, it’s been a few hours. I’m sitting on a bus heading towards St. Canard right now. I packed all my stuff up since Aunt Magica was the one who wanted to use the amphitheater as a hideout. It’s not like it’s much, considering I don’t even have the amulet anymore, so there’s my best defense gone, I guess. _

_ I should have grabbed some extra food from the mansion. Or a knife. Probably both. But nope, Aunt Magica is so damn impatient that I can’t even grab the basic necessities before leaving. _

_ Then again, if I did stay, I totally would have been caught. I can’t believe they bought my bullshit excuse about my aunt needing me or whatever. I mean, I’ve never even mentioned having an aunt to them, and they just bought it. It’s amazing! But then again, they really are too trusting once they let their guard down. _

_ I hope they don’t let their guard down. I don’t want Webby to get hurt. I kind of feel guilty about betraying her. I can’t believe it- she was just supposed to be my ticket in, I’m not supposed to even care about her! Am I even supposed to have feelings? _ _  
  
_

_ I mean, I guess I am now that I’m sort of real and everything. And free. I wonder what that’s like. _

_ It’s kind of weird. I spent so long trying to get away from Aunt Magica, I don’t know what to do now that I’m done with her. I guess I need to get as far away from Duckburg as possible and stop worrying about them. _

_ I shouldn’t worry about Scrooge. I mean, he’s tough. That entire family is tough. They can do anything together, and as long as they stay together, they’ll be able to take out Magica. _

_ I hope that they can. I don’t want to live in a world where she’s in charge. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. _

_ But I guess I can’t really complain, can I? It’s my fault that the world is gonna end, so I don’t get to complain about it- it was my fault because I wanted to be free, and I’m  _ _ selfish, a bad person, not even real _ _ \- tired. I’m really tired. Maybe that’s just what happens when you become real. _

_ I guess I’ll sleep. It’s still another few hours until I get to St. Canard, and nobody on this bus is staring at me in a creepy way. _

_ Goodnight. _

* * *

Lena closed her journal and put it back in her beat-up backpack, easily fitting it in there with the rest of her few possessions; a change of clothes, a few cans of spray paint, an old journal, a few pencils, some spare change, her phone charger, her phone, a few random tools, and some ratty earbuds.

The teenager pulled out said phone and earbuds, plugging them in and began scrolling through her mediocre playlist. A few illegally downloaded musicals, a playlist with some random rap songs, and several punk albums, including one by The Runaways.

“Eenie-meenie-minie-moe.” She landed on The Runaways- decent enough, she guessed. Putting her earbuds in and leaning against the back of the seat, Lena let the sound of Joan Jett drown out the noise of the bus, the few passengers who were staring at this dirty teenager who was traveling on her own, and the noise inside her head. She stared out the window and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_ Lena ran. She ran and ran and ran, but couldn’t get away. The shadows crept up, wrapping around her legs and dragging her down. They pulled her back, back all the way to Duckburg. Why was she in Duckburg? _

_ The shadows swirled around the sky, engulfing in inky blackness. The citizens were screaming, running from the one person who was unaffected by the shadows; the Queen of them herself, Magica De Spell. _

_ Lena struggled, desperately trying to break out of the shadows that were snaking around her, choking her, threatening to drown her and drag her back to the inky emptiness of the Shadow Realm. She reached her arm into her sweater, searching for the amulet, but found only her shirt. _

_ Of course. Aunt Magica has the amulet now, and Lena was practically defenseless, with nothing but her fists to defend herself. She continued to flail, hoping that the shadows would miraculously let her go so that she could run away before- _

_ “Oh, there you are, Lena.” _

_ It was her. Aunt Magica stood tall and proud in front of her former shadow, who was kneeling on the ground. The shadows that brought her there retreated slightly, but Lena still couldn’t find the ability to move her feet. Paralyzed with fear, she tried to look away, but Aunt Magica grabbed her by the head, forcing her chin upwards to meet her gaze. _

_ “I was wondering where you decided to run off to. I can’t believe you didn’t stick around to witness your dear aunt’s rise to power and the execution of her revenge upon Clan McDuck. Of course, I’ve already done the last part.” The witch reached into her cloak pocket, pulling out an old dime. Etched into the metal, Lena could make out Scrooge’s face glaring back at her. _

_ “Now, I expect you to be here when I crush the rest of his miserable family beneath my heel for dear Scroogie to watch. You’ve helped me get so far, after all, it would only be fitting that you help complete the last of it.” _

_ Magica picked Lena up, fingers gripping her jaw and forcing her wide eyes towards the battlefield. “Webster or whatever her name was is in there somewhere, you know. I’m sure she would love to see you again. Oh, the look on their faces when they discover you betrayed them is always delightful the first time!” _

_ With that, Lena was shoved out into the chaos of the battle between the shadows and the Duck Clan. She could see Donald holding his own with what looked like a dozen shadows, trying to put himself between them and the terrified triplets. Launchpad was attempting to drive through them and run them over, but they were grabbing onto his car, slowing it down. Beakley, who always had a cool aura of control around her, was now desperately trying to stay above the waves of shadows threatening to pull her under. _

_ And Webby... Webby was screaming, doing her best to tear through the shadows holding her grandmother captive, to no avail. In what was only moments, they grabbed onto the young girl’s fists, pulling her into the dark mass. _

_ “Webby!” Lena couldn’t stop the scream from tearing out of her throat. Webby turned to look at her, eyes desperate. _

_ “Lena! Help! Magica de Spell somehow came back, and-“ _

_ “Oh, but she already knows that, brat.” Aunt Magica’s cold voice cut through the air like a knife, the shadows slowing down for her as she walked. “Your so-called  _ friend _ was the one who helped free me, after all.” _

_ “What? No- she wouldn’t! Lena is my friend, she’d never help you!” Webby probably would have bitten Magica if she could get close enough in that moment. _

_ Magica laughed, cruelly and viciously. “Lena isn’t even a person, Pinkie. She’s my shadow, and all you ever were to her was a  _ tool _ to get to Scrooge McDuck’s Number One Dime!” _

_ “You- you’re lying! That isn’t true- right... Lena?” Webby turned to look at the teenager, doubt and fear hiding behind the ferocity in her expression. Upon seeing the shame in Lena’s face, she began to panic. “She’s lying, right, Lena? Please, tell me she’s lying!” _

_ Lena turned to face the ground, unable to look at her friend anymore. “I’m sorry, Pink.” _

_ Webby’s face took on a mix of shock and horror, and the universe seemed to slow down, circling only them. Then, it shifted to anger. “So I was nothing more than a free pass into Mr. McDuck’s mansion? Did even  _ mean  _ anything to you!?” _

_ “At first, it was,” Lena desperately tried to explain, “but I never wanted all this to happen! I didn’t have a choice-!” _

_ “You always have a choice, Lena! And… and you chose wrong!” The shadows grew, and the ducks began to swirl around Lena, and their prodding insults and judgements became all she could hear over the growing noise of the vortex. _

_ “We let you into our home, and you went and let  _ her _ in?” Huey’s voice was clear, full of anger. _

_ “We trusted you! We went on adventures together! You saved me from a money shark! You lied about all of that?” Dewey, or maybe Louie. Whichever it was, the other one was soon followed- “You took our Uncle away from us again!” _ _  
  
_

_ “I knew you were nothing but trouble from the start. I should have never allowed you near my granddaughter.” _

_ “You tore my family apart! You put my kids in danger!” Donald’s voice. Lena wished she never had figured out how to understand it. _

_ “You monster! How could you do this?” Even Launchpad was angry. Lena hadn’t known that the pilot was even capable of being angry. _

_ “You’re not my friend!” as Webby’s voice grew louder, the shadows completely surrounded Lena, blocking out the sky. “You’re a coward! A traitor! You’re a bad person!” _

_ Lena fell to the ground. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” _

_ “But it’s too late for that now, isn’t it?” The voice sounded like all of them, yet none of them all at once. “You’re a monster! Just like your Aunt!” _

_ “Oh, now don’t give her too much credit.” The spiraling shadows slowed, and parted just slightly to let Aunt Magica through. “For her to be just like me, she would have to be a real person.” _

_ “No! I’m not your puppet anymore. You promised me my freedom!” Lena cried, begging her aunt to let her go. _

_ “And I gave it to you for quite a bit of time, Lena. But alas, you truly have become far too troublesome. I really ought to put you in your place.” _

_ And with that, Aunt Magica raised her staff. Lena could feel a cold, chilling grip wrap around her body, submerging her, and then disappearing along with any other feeling as she was dragged back into the numbing darkness. _

_ “No! Not again! Don’t send me back! Please, Aunt Magica-!” _

* * *

“Hey, shut up, kid!”

Lena jolted awake, a scream escaping her throat. Sweat covered her brow as she proceeded to collapse onto a cold, hard floor. She looked around, trying to piece together her surroundings. Right. Bus, headed to St. Canard. Aunt Magica was free, she was getting away.

Pulling herself back into her seat, she looked at the person who had been shaking her awake. An older seagull, probably about his mid-forties, wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and an old baseball cap. Probably working class, based on his old phone and beat up bag, and leaving a thankless job to go to an apartment that probably cost more than it was worth.

“I’m sorry.” Lena apologized, plugging her earbuds back in. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

The old guy sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Hope you don’t have to live through whatever nightmare you were having again.”

A few minutes later, the bus screeched to a stop, and the driver called out to the occupants, “Port Bridge Public Transit Station, St. Canard!”

Lena summoned what little energy she had left to pull herself to her feet. Picking up her bag, she climbed past the seagull, who refused to move, and out the bus.

As Lena stepped outside, she breathed in the cold air. It was early morning, the sun having only been up for a few hours. Most people hadn’t even left to go to work yet, and the streets were quiet, the station only sporting about two dozen commuters.  _ Great.  _ It would be a while before there were big enough crowds for her to be able to safely grab a meal.

The teenager approached the nearest map, looking for her next destination, instinctively turning to her shadow to ask where she had to go. Her shadow made no move.

_ Right.  _ Aunt Magica was gone. No more stuck-up aunt in her shadow, but on the other hand, Lena had no idea what to do. Sighing, she closed her eyes and pointed to a random spot on the map, blinking her eyelids open in order to view where her finger had landed.

A business district on the edge of downtown and near a university. Not too far from a part of town that Lena remembered was a little shady, so if she was lucky, she’d be able to grab some food in the business district and crash in an abandoned building.

Another bus pulled into the station, and Lena dragged herself towards it. If this was how her freedom was going to go, she wasn’t looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's it for now! like i said, later chapters will be longer, and i'll try to update once a week! i know it's Monday for most of you but it's late Sunday for me, so. update day is dependent on time zone
> 
> did you guys enjoy the finale? i thought some parts were okay, some parts i did not like. not all of it is going to be canon in this au, i can tell you that
> 
> special thanks to @edenihira / romwaeta for beta reading. they rock!
> 
> feedback, constructive criticism are appreciated.
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


	2. Invincible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena runs from the police, falls at least 15 feet, and gets bitten by a radioactive spider. These things don't kill normal people, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, prologue done, real story begins now! chapter title is taken from the Aminé song (on the Spider-Verse soundtrack)
> 
> tw for language, bug bites and nausea/vomiting (at the end)
> 
> enjoy!

It was official. Lena was just as foolish as Aunt Magica had always said.

If she really  _ could _ handle being free and on her own, she wouldn’t be running from the cops less than two days after arriving in St. Canard. She would have been smart enough to watch the patrol patterns and figure out where the other artists worked before she stopped to throw up an elaborate mural. She would have remembered that she didn’t have any magical aces up her sleeve, and would be forced to run if they saw her, like she was doing now.

Lena banked right, managing to escape the car that was chasing her by running into a narrow alley. The car slowed, and one of the cops jumped out of it, while the other drove away, probably looking to cut her off.

Lena took a left into a wider alley, knocking a garbage can over as she did. The cop chasing her was probably fast enough to dodge it, but half a second could save her ass if she was unlucky.

Damn. The alley she had run into was wide enough to drive down, and the cops had known this. The car she had been running from was facing off of her, driving towards her now. She turned around and ran, avoiding Running Cop with an easy duke, making him trip over his own feet.

Behind her, the car slowed to avoid hitting the fallen cop, and Lena took the opportunity to book it, sprinting to the end of the alleyway and across the street, almost getting hit by one of the few cars that was still out at midnight. The car honked at her as she tripped and fell onto the curb, and she ignored the driver’s angry shouts as she pulled herself back up and kept running.

Lena looked around. Her immediate surroundings consisted of six-story apartment buildings, offices, hotels and small stores that could have been Anywhere, USA. The alley she had just run from continued over to the next block, only to end at a tall fence, which had a small hole in it, just small enough for Lena to squeeze through.

Her exit.

“Hey! Kid, stop now!” The cops were back, one running alongside the car.

Lena didn’t waste anymore time. She took off running again, dodging the bags of trash and a single stray cat that jumped out at her. As she approached the fence, she took off her backpack and shoved it through the hole, squeezing herself in after it.

“Dammit! Come on, kid, get back here!” It seemed like the cops had met their match; a teenager who could squeeze through holes.

“Sorry. Don’t really feel like spending the night in a jail cell!” Lena turned away laughing, a smile on her face as she pulled her backpack on and walked to the edge of the fence, then ducked down behind a building to listen to the officers.

“Mike, I’m gonna circle around to Edmond’s and try to head her off. You take the car down to McDuck Lane and see if you can corner her there. And radio for reinforcements while you’re at it!”

Lena grimaced. Of course, her first day in St. Canard and she managed to get all the cops in a district on her tail. At least if she was lucky, the bandana she had over her face would prevent them from getting a good look at her face.

Maybe she shouldn’t have painted a mural that said “Fuck the Police” before she knew the area. 

Too late now. She didn’t know the streets well enough to run away, so she’d have to hide and wait for them to pass. Not an easy task, considering most of the buildings around here were residential, and there weren’t many places that would be closed.

Lena picked herself up and began walking, making sure to stay near cover and off of the main roads. She looked up. The apartment above her had their lights on, so those fire escapes were a no-go. Electronic locks on a lot of doors, too. Not exactly easy to pick.

Also, cameras. Way too many cameras.

Her stomach growled. How could she be hungry already? She’d eaten this morning, and should be good until tomorrow at least, right?

A thought hit her; maybe she wouldn’t be. Real people had to eat at least two meals a day to survive. She was real now, more or less, anyways. Would she need to eat more? It was hard enough getting one meal a day, two or three would be basically impossible.

A siren lit up in the distance, snapping Lena back into reality. No time to think about possible starvation now, she needed to hide.

Running across the street, Lena jumped behind a nearby bush and looked around. An open parking lot, behind what looked like a very fancy building-no, set of buildings, almost like a campus.

Right. McDuck Enterprises. No matter where she went, she couldn’t avoid running into the McDucks, and the reminders of Scrooge, and Duckburg, and…

“Focus, Lena.” She couldn’t afford to be distracted now. She kept looking around. No nearby buildings that weren’t locked down, and no abandoned buildings in sight. The closest climbable roof was one of the science buildings, which had a slanted roof that came up from the ground at a steep angle, but not too steep to climb. It led to some high-up windows, but Lena didn’t want to use it unless she had to.

“Hey! I think I see her!” 

Lena was snapped out of her thoughts by a loud voice. She turned around, only to see two cops leaving their car.

_ Aaaaaand _ last resort option it was.

She jumped out of the bushes and began sprinting again, cops close on her tail. The roof was at least five-hundred feet away. Four-hundred… three-hundred… two-hundred… one hundred...

Lena jumped, landing on the roof on all fours, and began to clamber across the main support beam. Once she made it to the main part of the roof, she jumped off and began running up the building, careful to maintain her balance. The duckling climbed higher and higher, until she was face to face with the edge of the roof.

Okay, so it wasn’t joined onto the next building like she thought. There was at least a twenty foot gap between her and the next building, and with the cops behind her, Lena was trapped.

She looked around, desperately trying to find an exit. Tree...tree...tree without low down branches...fifty foot drop...open window…

Wait. Open window?

There was a window about two stories down from where she was. It led to a dark room, and it opened by tilting the window panel at a downward angle, so unless Lena could suddenly walk up walls, it would be basically impossible to get to.

Or was it?

Lena looked to the right, and noticed a tree. A tall one, close enough to the roof that she could jump to it. The tree’s branches extended just into the jumping range of a walkway with a sheltered roof, which led to just under the row of windows the open one was on.

Was it worth it? She’d still be risking several long drops…

A siren sounded behind her.

Lena sighed, took a few strides back, and then took a running jump to the tree.

She landed in the branches, gripping onto one like a lifeline while she gained her bearings. Okay, she’d made it. Now, a matter of climbing down a tall pine tree, climbing across the thin branches, jumping to the walkway, and somehow getting to the window.

She began moving down the tree slowly, staying halfway between the ends of the branches and the trunk. As she reached her jumping branch, she moved further out, grabbing onto thin branches to her sides while trying to balance on another branch that wasn’t going to support her weight for long.

No time to calculate the jump. Lena could feel the branches breaking, and pushed herself out of the tree and to the walkway cover.

Lena slammed into the side of it, and she could hear something crack as all the wind was knocked out of her. That...sounded bad, but that was a problem for future Lena, who  _ wasn’t _ about to fall off the side of a roof.

Clambering to grab whatever she could to keep herself up, Lena snagged onto the edge of a gutter. Using her legs to pull herself up, she landed on top of the walkway and collapsed onto her back, catching her breath. She was alive.

Far away, she could hear the freaked out shouts of the officers. A reminder that she couldn’t stay there for long. Sighing, she pulled herself up, ignoring the pain in her chest.

The windows had slight window sills, and there wasn’t that much ground to cover between her and the open window. Only ten feet…

Taking a deep breath, Lena grabbed onto the windowsill of the closest window and took her feet off the covered roof.

She regretted it almost immediately, wishing she’d taken the time to find another exit, but it was too late to turn back now. Using her feet to push herself along the wall, Lena slowly moved from one window to the next, and to the next, and then…

Her feet slipped, and Lena cursed. She was now dangling off of a small, flimsy piece of windowsill, barely big enough to fit her fingers into it. Her exit was so close, she couldn’t stop now.

Mustering the last bits of her strength, Lena pulled herself up, and with a lurch of her arms, launched herself at the open window.

Somehow, her flailing arms managed to grab it, and once she opened her eyes to see she wasn’t plummeting to her death, Lena used what little energy she had left to pull herself through the window.

She was expecting to fall on the floor, but instead managed to land herself on top of a desk, and heard a loud crash as something fell and shattered on the floor. “I hope that wasn’t important.”

Lena looked around, taking in the room she had landed herself in. It wasn’t very big for a science lab, and honestly looked so much like a classroom Lena could have sworn she was back in St. Agnes’- one of the many boarding schools she had been sent to when the police were unable to find any record of her existence. 

There were several desks, all pushed up against the walls, with notebooks and computers all spread out as if nobody had put them away properly. The walls were covered with charts and posters and diagrams of spiders, and the rows of desks in the middle of the room each sported at least one terrarium on them.

As Lena pulled herself off the table she was sitting on, she turned around and realized how many chemicals and weird jars had been on it. “Hope none of those were poisonous,” she muttered.

Voices trailed up from below. Lena walked back toward the window to listen, being extra careful to stay out of its line of sight.

“Can’t find her?” A loud yell from nearby. There was a reply, but it was too far away to hear.

“Nothing here either. Just hope the kid isn’t found dead tomorrow or we’re gonna have a lot of paperwork to do. Let’s move out.”

Lena waited a few more minutes before slowly peeking out the window, checking to see if it was a bluff. No cops in sight.

Lena let out a long sigh of relief. She was alive! She managed to outrun the cops and make it inside some high end top secret research facility, with minimal damage!

Shit. Lena had broken into some high end top secret research facility, which would definitely have cameras. She put her hands up to her face, checking to see that yes, she did still have her bandana on over her bill. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a ratty old beanie and pulled it over her head.

Well, if there was anything Lena had learned from her shitty life, it was that you did what you could with what you were given, and that there was always a chance to move forward or turn something that looked bad to your advantage. Keep fighting on.

She could probably find something expensive in here to steal. Maybe a high end computer, or some expensive material that a black market dealer would buy, or-

“Ow!” Lena felt a sharp, biting sensation on her leg, and looked down to see what kind of sorry creature could both give her such a painful bite and sneak into a top secret research facility.

There, crawling up her right leg, was a brightly colored bug. It was about the size of her hand, and... _ was it glowing? _ Lena reached down, gently scooping up the bug. It was a spider, with neon blue fangs, a glowing yellow belly and bright green spots on its back.

“Well, aren’t you a fancy little bug? Bet someone who doesn’t think too much about what kind of pet they’re buying would pay a lot for you,” she said, “I’ll find a jar to put you in.”

After a few minutes of looking, Lena found a jar in one of the cabinets. Carefully dropping the spider in it, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a roll of tape and a pocket knife. Using the scissors attachment, she cut a small piece of cloth off of her bandana and placed it over the jar, taping it in place.

“That should do it,” she muttered, poking hole in the top of the lid and wrapping the jar in her pajama shirt before putting it in her bag. “You should be safe in there for now. I’ll get us out of here.”

As Lena walked towards the door, she examined the other terrariums and notebooks in the room. About half the terrariums appeared empty, most sporting a sticker with a large red  _ X _ on it. The others appeared to have spiders crawling in them, some glowing in different colors, some practically invisible. In one terrarium, two spiders appeared to be locked in some form of battle.

“Creepy,” Lena muttered. The stickers had different symbols on them as well, some with a lightning bolt, or a different letter, or a symbol that Lena could have sworn she had seen in one of the older parts of a school once.

No time to think about that now. Lena took one look at the door’s lock, and busted it open in seconds.

“Should have locked it from both sides if you’re gonna use a fancy electronic lock,” Lena muttered, “never thought I’d say this, but thank you Scrooge and your constant stinginess and cost cutting.”

Lena closed the door behind her, taking a look to see what it said on it.

**Room 315**

**Genetic Experiment #7-Web Power**

**Caution. Biohazards and Radioactive Area**

“Holy shit, this place is radioactive?!” That’s where she’d seen the symbol before. It was over the old fallout shelter at one of the schools she’d been to. Magica always told her not to worry about it, that radiation probably wouldn’t harm a shadow since she didn’t have DNA, but normal people had DNA. Would it hurt her now that she was normal?

Lena looked down at the bite on her leg. The area around it was red and slightly swollen, and the bite mark was still bleeding a little, and looked like it was glowing slightly. She touched it, and her hand came away hot.

Well, that was it. Even more proof she was useless without Aunt Magica. Her third day as a real person and she managed to get herself bitten by a radioactive spider and would probably die from it. Sighing, Lena began walking down the halls slowly, hoping she’d be able to get out of the lab.

After getting lost in the maze twice and ending up in a completely different section that was four floors up, Lena decided to just wait until she could follow someone out in the morning. She was way too tired to bother wandering around anymore.

Her leg was beginning to hurt, too. She should probably clean the injury, that’s what normal people did when they got hurt, right? And they used bandaids? Or that thick tissue paper stuff if it was really bad?

Lena sighed. She had no idea what she was doing. Might as well turn back to Aunt Magica and beg for forgiveness now. What was she thinking? She obviously had no idea how to take care of herself.

Lena was knocked out of her trance by the fast approaching ground. She pulled herself back up and shook her head a bit, only to be met with a massive amount of feedback from it.

Well, great. She had a headache, was increasingly dizzy, and had almost just blacked out. This night just got better and better. She should just find the first unlocked door she could get into and crash there for the night, it’s not like she had the energy to get out of the building anyway.

She began working through the door handles. Locked. Locked. Locked. Locked. Locked. Locked. Unlocked. Lock-

Lena froze and slammed the unlocked door open, revealing a men’s bathroom inside. Didn’t matter. She was too tired to bother looking for another room.

Stumbling over to the sink, Lena splashed some water on her hands and wiped it on her leg. Probably not how you were supposed to clean things, but she didn’t care at this point. Grabbing a paper towel, Lena wiped away the filth caked around her leg, and put soap on it, before wiping it away with more water.

What was next? Right. Bandages. Paper towels, held onto her leg with tape. That was how bandages worked, right?

Lena looked at her work and sighed. She then stumbled to the toilet in the corner and threw up whatever was left in her stomach.

Lena groaned as she leaned back against the stall wall, her head spinning. She could barely think, her body felt like it was being ripped apart, and why was she so cold when her leg felt so hot?

_ Holy shit. The spider bite is going to kill me. I am going to die. Magica was right, I really am useless without her. _

_ I’d better survive this so I can prove her wrong,  _ was Lena’s last coherent thought before she couldn’t fight the dizziness anymore, darkness consuming her vision as she collapsed to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when using spray paint, there are fumes and particles that are bad to inhale, so wear a mask. an N-95 mask works way better than a bandana, Lena only gets away with a bandana because she is a cartoon duck. this has been your PSA about graffiti safety
> 
> also, Lena really needs to learn how normal bodies work. also first aid. guess when you have a shadow body for 15 years, you don't pick that stuff up, but you get plenty of parkour in running from the cops!
> 
> hope y'all enjoyed, next chapter should be up in a week, hopefully. might take a little longer, it's been a rough few days.
> 
> constructive criticism and feedback are always appreciated
> 
> thank you and goodnight!


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